Author: admin

Off to the speedshop in Monroe go I.  Sideways gives me a hand and we take a closer gander at my pushrod shrinkage issue.  Given the rather nice valve geometry, the diagnosis of the pushrod hardness comes pretty quickly.  I’m worried about the shower of metal filings that has been sent to my engine, but Sideways says I have a pretty good chance of getting away with nothing more than a filter change.  

Hope in hand, I leave with a new set of stainless roller rockers, and new hardened pushrods.  Sideways says I should have plenty of room in my center bolt heads.  Hey maybe this won’t be so bad after all!   

 

Traveling along the Mountain Loop highway I had noted the sound of misadjusted rocker loads.  I had heard this sound before, and in fact had just done a valve adjust the morning of.  I had hoped that I simply had a rocker nut that was loosening up, so got on the Internet and ordered up some polylocks.  It was a bit far fetched, given they were brand new rockers pushrods and nuts, but that’s what hope and denial will do to you.  Somewhere in the back of my mind I knew that was not going to do it, so when the polylocks arrived I committed to pulling a rocker or two and doing a close inspection.   

   

The results of that inspection were pretty conclusive.  My pushrods were eating themselves at the rocker arms.  The worst had eaten clean through the welded ball of the pushrod end.  Clearly, this is going to be a problem.  

Next up was valve geometry.  Which was perfectly centered across the valve stem.  No problems there.  

  

The plot thickens.

The Mountain loop highway between Granite Falls and Darington makes for a great Saturday day trip.  It’s close, scenic and offers the right amount of rustic appeal.  Plus there is little doubt that one has truly gone off the beaten path, as once the pavement ends somewhere around the ice caves you are treated to a well worn gravel road.  Well worn of course as when the hillside collapsed in Oso blocking the highway into Darrington, this not so well traveled route became important to those who call the area home.  

Now ow when I mean the pavement ends and one is on a gravel road, I mean a pothole filled gravel road.  Potholes as I discovered that quickly laughed at even 35 inch tires.  If you can’t find a clear path around the deeper ones, you had better slow down and drop each wheel in one at a time lest you find yourself turning wrenches on the side of the road.  

Now, this is a route that does not require a true offroad vehicle, though it helps.  You just might find yourself slowing down more frequently.    But don’t let that stop you.  The rustic charm is very much a part of its appeal.  The highway had been closed for some time after a bridge was washed out in a winter storm, but has been back in service since 2008 after the bridge was put back in service and the roadway restored.  

For me, it was a great outing and felt like it did some justice for what this Jeep was made for.  Though by the time I got back onto pavement close to Darrington, I noted my engine was revealing some unwanted noise from her lifters.  That will be another story, but for now try to enjoy the pictures.  

   

       

Fuel Modifier Table

Spark Modifier Table

Observed Issues:

 
 

O2 sensor shows running rich at idle (expected)

Warm start idle will often surge slightly.

Otherwise runs fairly well.

I get some exhaust backfiring at idle, fairly soft.

 
 

 
 

Actions Taken:

Retarded timing to solve pinging

Added Idle Fuel to solve surging.

 
 

 
 

History:

Previously had terrible idle surge issues.

The vehicle had been dyno tuned, but the idle was not set with the foot on the brake, thus did not pick up the load of the hydroboost power steering pump and related braking effect.

The solution was when I finally added significant fuel around idle.

There was a little pinging on hills, solved by retarding the spark.